Saturday, March 25, 2017

In recent years, people have resorted to using memes on social media to share their ideas on things and try to convince others to agree with them. It never really works well, though. More often then not, it just looks like someone looking to insult their ideological opponents. That's not going to convince anyone to switch over to your side in the debate. We will now display 3 good examples that illustrate my point...

This tripe came from an Atheist page, in case you couldn't tell. Also, the odds of Mississippi being #1 in anything is not overly high since the state has a pretty low population compared to most others. Furthermore, I can personally vouch for there being a lot of smart people living in Mississippi. I'm related to some of them. Those relatives of mine might be Redneck to the core but, they'd still have to be clever to be retired Air Force officers, Registered Nurses, Real-Estate Agents, Diesel mechanics and engineers employed by NASA. Also, since when was '1st most' considered good grammar? That's not the sort of thing that an intelligent/educated person would write...

This one has less to do with Social Media and more to do with the Mainstream Media, aka the DNC's propaganda machine. Despite the objective fact that President Trump has been doing a lot of good things since getting into office, CNN is still going to look for anything they can possibly use to besmirch him. Too bad they didn't do that with Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. Those two actually deserved all the pillory that elected officials often get. All this really does is keep people who aren't Democrats from looking at any of CNN's reports. That's probably a good thing...

I saw this on the page of an old Army buddy that is also very left-wing. I'm sure she shared this in jest but, it seems more insulting than actually funny. It also doesn't say why Republicans would be angry. Also, Republicans do care about poor kids having enough to eat. They'd just rather not get the government involved. This kind of crap is why the political discourse in America today is so unbelievably tribal and toxic. Knock that shit off, Democrats. Otherwise, the mid-term elections of 2018 and POTUS election in 2020 won't go so well for you, either. That is the real reason Trump got so much popular support. His populist rhetoric and ability to fight back against the crooked media didn't get him elected. People being disgusted with you Democrats got him elected. You became such toxic assholes that the GOP could have ran anyone and still defeat you, including an ego-maniacal/often controversial real-estate tycoon.

Thursday, March 2, 2017

Sorry this analysis took as long as it has, folks. Life has been keeping me busy. Sorry that I felt compelled to do yet another political post too. I had to analyze this speech here since this is one of the first opportunities I'll get to size up the new Commander in Chief. It's also the first time he will be acting like a President instead of a candidate running a ruthless campaign against his opponents.

I've embedded a video recording of the speech from YouTube below. You can also read the full text of the speech here at the website for the Voice of America.

And now, my thoughts and feelings on what I just watched...

1.) The way Donald speaks here is surprisingly Presidential. Most of his odd speech patterns from the campaign trail are not present here. I had a feeling the way he acted on the campaign trail was different from how he'd actually govern. Glad to see I was right in that regard. That means that he understands that the way he acted in business is not always applicable to how you should act as an elected official. I remember there was some concern about that from both sides of the aisle during the election. Glad to see those concerns were overblown.

2.) The First Lady got quite a positive response. That's refreshing to see. I hate the way the Media maligns her. She seems like such a class act. I can see why Donald fell in love with her.

3.) Most of the speech for the first 20 minutes are just an update on his activities and a reiteration of his campaign promises. However, I do like the way he challenged those members of Congress who seem opposed to actually enforcing our immigration laws. It's about time someone called them out on that Bravo Sierra.

4.) All the talk about smashing ISIS and renewing the alliance with Israel is exactly what I expect out of a POTUS. Nothing new there.

5.) Nice to hear that he's appointed a candidate to fill Justice Antonin Scalia's now vacant seat on the SCOTUS. Judge Neal Gorsuch will have some mighty big shoes to fill. Scalia was a LEGEND among hardcore Constitutionalists.

6.) President Trump is speaking my language when he speaks on employment troubles for so many of us, corporate tax rates and trade deficits. Obummer really dropped the ball in all of those areas. I like the example he used with Harley-Davidson always being taxed outrageous amounts in foreign countries. Harley should be able to compete anywhere in the world with their products but, the taxes and grossly unfair trade practices imposed on them by other countries makes that impossible.

The situation is pretty similar for the automakers in Detroit too. Thanks to a lot of protectionist policies, almost no cars from outside automakers have ever been sold in Japan. That's not right. I should be able to go to Japan and see just as many Chevys and Fords there as I see Toyotas and Hondas here. After all, Japan is a country that believes in Capitalism right? Why don't they want the competition? Are they afraid we'll eat their lunch? I wouldn't blame them if they did. We already stole the market from right under their nose in emerging markets like Russia and China. India and Brasil are still wide open for just about any automaker. Although, GM already does have a large presence in Brasil.

7.) I love the idea of creating new jobs by fixing our crumbling infrastructure. Especially since he's putting an emphasis on buying and hiring Americans. Hell, I'll take one of those jobs. I'd love to have some GOOD roads here in New Orleans. 😝

8.) Notice how most (if not all) of the Democrats stayed seated and quiet when the President asked Congress to repeal and replace Obamacare? Lolz... The President speaks the truth when he says that forcing people to buy Government-approved healthcare with that damned mandate was 'never the right thing to do'. And just by saying that, he again makes history by being one of the few politicians to ACTUALLY TELL THE TRUTH. 😜

9.) I noticed that he also looked and waived his hands towards the Democrats when he called Obamacare 'a disaster.' I'm sure there are a lot of shrinks and body language experts that will have plenty to say about that moment in the speech. Although, I think anyone with sense can already tell you exactly what that was all about: He was telling them to let go of Obamacare and replace it with something better.

10.) Is it weird that I ate some cheese puffs while watching 'Emperor Cheeto' making his speech? Oh, the deliciously comedic irony... And just plain deliciousness... 😊

11.) It was nice to see the Democrats stand and applaud when the President mentioned bringing down the cost of prescription drugs. Too bad they didn't applaud when he mentioned letting consumers cross state lines when looking for Health Insurance policies. Also Mr. President, it would be nice if I could do the same for my Auto, Homeowners and Life Insurance as well.

12.) The calls for unity were nice but, I'm afraid those calls fell on deaf ears with the Democrats. Why must they be so obstructionist? Do they actually believe their own non-sense that they spewed about this man since the election? The voters have spoken. They want you to work with him. Do so, Democrats. The minority party in American politics is called the Loyal Opposition for a reason. You don't have to agree with him. Just provide Republicans with better alternatives when they propose a bad idea. It really is that easy.

13.) Calling Education a Civil Rights issue is an interesting approach that I wouldn't have considered. That might get the Democrats to actually listen for once on the matter of school choice and vouchers. However, I'm assuming they actually care about any genuine Civil Rights issues anymore. I'm not sure if they do or not.

14.) Everyone stood up and applauded when the President spoke on supporting cops and cutting down violence in Chicago. Glad to know that terror group Black Lives Matter hasn't poisoned the Democrats all the way yet.

15.) Having the DHS create an office for citizens who have been victimized by illegal immigrants is probably one of the few times I would approve of yet another government office being opened. However, I am sad that such things have become necessary.

16.) Democrats were pretty slow to rise when the President talked about fixing the many problems with the military. I guess I shouldn't be surprised since they caused a lot of them.

17.) The Dems shouldn't have sat down before the rest of the crowd when everyone else was applauding the Navy SEAL's widow. It just looks bad. Not all of them sat down early but, quite a lot of them did. Not cool.

18.) Nice to see that he got the other NATO members to honor their financial obligations to the alliance. Their obligation is only 2% of their GDP. That's not a lot considering that America allocates at least 20% of its annual budget to military expenditures. Surely they can come up with 2%.

19.) I like how President Trump says 'my job is not to represent the world'. That needed to be said. Obama was more worried about being a global citizen instead of an American. An American President should be an American FIRST. Once the needs of our people are addressed, then the President can lead the way in having America improve things around the world. You can't help others if you can't even really help yourself.

20.) Towards the end, the President said something that really got my attention.

"Imagine the wonders our country could know in America's 250th year.Think of the marvels we can achieve if we simply set free the dreams of our people.Cures to illnesses that have always plagued us are not too much to hope.American footprints on distant worlds are not too big a dream.Millions lifted from welfare to work is not too much to expect.And streets where mothers are safe from fear -- schools where children learn in peace -- and jobs where Americans prosper and grow -- are not too much to ask.When we have all of this, we will have made America greater than ever before. For all Americans.This is our vision. This is our mission."

Now this guy is really speaking my language. That 'American footprints on distant worlds' quip sounds like he wants to get NASA back into the manned exploration business. Good! We should have never stopped. That is the real future of Humanity; the successful exploration and colonization of space. I still can't understand why Obummer let the Space Shuttle be retired without a replacement. Making us dependent on aging, often unreliable, Soviet-era Russian rockets to get to the International Space Station is a horrible idea. With this President Trump is actually giving me some renewed hope for the future. THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT A LEADER SHOULD DO. ENCOURAGE AND INSPIRE. It's also nice to have a mission again. I don't miss the Army at all but, I do miss having a task and purpose. Post-military life, despite all my best efforts, has not always provided that for me.